Last term

The last school term is starting and this time next week the Tasmanian group of 10 will be in Santo and ready to fly to Londua the next day. All is ready and the days are warming up. There will be a temperature change from Tassie to Ambae. There are 5 from Kingaroy plus Lyn and I flying in to Londua on the 15th September. The technical college plans for next year are progressing forward and God is in control. We will be send out advertisements in October for student enrolment for 2009. It will provide an opportunity for the 70% of year 8 leavers and 70% of year 10 leavers that do not get selected to attend any further government academic education. This places a responsibility on Londua Technical College and the Vanuatu Church of Christ Conference to meet the demand of student placements in vocational studies and provide the best quality of training that will lead to employment and or small business growth. Please pray for the safe travel and safety on site for all team travellers.

Teaching salaries

Hi all. The discussions with the education people went well although I can not say that we have secured any money for teachers salaries yet. The discussions were very positive so please keep praying and we will keep knocking on doors. We have a group of 10 from Tasmania going to Londua in early September and a group of 5 from Kingaroy going a little later. The paper work my end is still being processed and there are little miricales happening every week. It is exciting to see where God is leading. Thanks to the 2 churches that are supporting the chaplain. There is a lot of maintainence work and paper work to process and it is all getting done, slowly.

Went to visit the Doulos today. Met Aaron from Australia and James from Vanuatu. Good to see them and give them some encouragement.
http://www.doulos.org/

Work team

The following pictures are of the students learning rendering on the new home care building and a concrete top that was poured on one of the ground tanks. The Toowoomba work team had an airless spray gun with them and sprayed 60 litres of light yellow paint on the inside of the girls dorm and the new home care building. Does anyone have contact with a paint supplier that will sell us paint at a very reasonable price? Please let me know. Thanks.

God is good

Had a good time in Vanuatu last trip. Met with some TVET (technical, vocational education and training) Strengthening Program people in Vila and again at Londua where there was a regional meeting of Rural Training Centre representatives. Very interesting to learn about the future direction that the Government is moving with technical training in Vanuatu. I believe that the next Government pay day will see 4 of Londua teachers being payed by the government. YAHOOOO!!! We are in serious discussions at the moment trying to secure government salaries for Londua teachers for next year. It is looking promising but we will see what God has in plan. There were 4 blokes from Toowoomba working at Londua while I was there and they made a good impression on the work and the staff and students. Job advertisements for all Londua staff have been mailed out and we are praying that God will bring the right people for the right positions for next year. The advertisement for the principal has also been sent out. Philemon is the acting principal this year and the position has to go through the official process as per the Vanuatu Conference policy. I heard this week that Londua has been selected to trial a new satellite internet connection. Apart from the obvious advantage of having this service supplied free for 2 years we now need to purchase laptop computers so we can put it to good use. Student, staff and community computer classes are on the way. There are 2 new Gap teachers living at Londua. One is teaching at Londua the other is teaching down the road at Lo-One. We are yet to meet these teachers but the house will be put to good use. Please pray for the discussions with the Ministry of Education in regard to funding and salaries for Londua from next year forward. Thanks heaps.